Do union members know about ‘strike pay’?

The fact that South African workers go on strike and are paid nothing is a complete mystery, since when a union calls a strike, say in Britain, the unions have to pay “strike pay” to each and every union member on strike.
Obviously strikers are not aware of this matter and should be made fully aware of it. Now if that were implemented in South Africa the unions would obviously be less likely to call for a strike, if their members demanded strike pay from the union, instead of losing earnings themselves and the funds paid by the members going into the pockets of the “fat cat” union leaders who have their fancy cars and houses, perhaps the continual strike mode would finish.
In regard to the current strike of petrol attendants, I would ask are they really necessary, as in many countries the vehicle drivers fill up their own car/vehicles with fuel. There are various methods that could be adopted in South Africa, the most likely being that you pay for the petrol in the shop and the attendant in the shop then switches on the pump to deliver that amount of petrol.
This could quite dramatically lower the price of petrol/diesel at the pump and lead to lowering of prices of food etc.
GEORGE N GRAY
Ballito